A call for the province to reinstate health care coverage for international students following the death of Tevin Obiga

On Monday March 14, Dougald and I asked questions on international student health care coverage and called on the Conservative government to reinstate the health care coverage that they took away in 2018.  The recent death of Tevin Obiga, who came from Kenya, highlights the need for such coverage.  The fact that more recent information has found he was a student at another institution than the University of Manitoba, only further emphasizes why all students should be covered provincially.

 

Inter­national Student Health Care
Request to Reinstate Coverage

Mr. Dougald Lamont (St. Boniface): This weekend, my colleague from River Heights and I met with the family and friends of Tevin Obiga, a fourth-year U of M student from Kenya who recently died of a fungal infection. Our hearts go out to his family.

      This PC gov­ern­ment stopped covering health care for Manitoba students from abroad in 2018. Now, in their grief, Tevin's family are facing a bill of over $500,000 from Shared Health. The insurance program that was cut, that used to cover all students who were from other countries, cost $3.1 million.

      We're asking the Premier (Mrs. Stefanson) to reverse this mistake today, to waive the fee for Tevin's family and others facing these outrageous bills and imme­diately reinstate health coverage for students in Manitoba from abroad so this never happens again.

Hon. Jon Reyes (Minister of Advanced Education, Skills and Immigration): Post-secondary edu­ca­tion is a critical component in ensuring that we have skil­led and talented individuals who can help restart our economy as we move forward through the pandemic.

      Our gov­ern­ment will continue to work with the leadership of colleges and uni­ver­sity students, in­cluding inter­national students, to provide one of the best post-secondary edu­ca­tions while keeping the tuition one of the lowest in Canada, Madam Speaker.

Madam Speaker: The honourable member for St. Boniface, on a supplementary question.

Mr. Lamont: It's easy not to care and it's cheap. But for the people being written off, it has a terrible cost.

      All these so-called inter­national students have one thing in common: they're Manitobans. They live here. They work here. They pay taxes here. Many have family and com­mu­nity, and they certainly have friends here. These students are the single biggest pool of future immigrants to Manitoba, and they want to live here as Canadians, not as a profit centre for Shared Health.

      Will this gov­ern­ment accept the challenge, in honour of Tevin, imme­diately reinstate health in­surance for Manitoba students from abroad so not one more Manitoban and their family has to endure the threat of crushing debt being added to the burden of their grief?

Mr. Reyes: Madam Speaker, the stream from coming here as an inter­national student and then applying to our suc­cess­ful Prov­incial Nominee Program has been a very common theme for many of them who come here to Manitoba. Many of them bring talent and skills and are making Manitoba their home.

      Manitoba is the home of hope, and we will con­tinue to welcome people and–around the world, including­ inter­national students. The reason why they come here, I met with–I was in Providence College just this weekend, and they're very happy that we keep one of the lowest tuition fees in western Canada.

      Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Madam Speaker: The honourable member for River Heights, on a final supplementary.

Hon. Jon Gerrard (River Heights): Madam Speaker, the gov­ern­ment eliminated health-care cover­age for inter­national students. As a result, students often delay getting care, the con­di­tion gets worse and it's less easy to treat. Tevin Obiga, a healthy seven–25-year-old athlete died from blastomycosis, which is treatable if diagnosed and treated early.

      Will the gov­ern­ment reinstate coverage for inter­national students under Manitoba Health and name a new program under–after Tevin Obiga?

      I also ask the gov­ern­ment to develop and an­nounce a more robust program for pre­ven­tion and early treatment of blastomycosis, so people like Tevin will live instead of dying and Manitoba will no longer have bad inter­national media coverage about inter­national students dying here.

Hon. Audrey Gordon (Minister of Health): Madam Speaker, I rise today to extend my deepest con­dol­ences to the family member that was referenced here today that passed away. And we know how difficult it is during the grieving process for families, and I want them to know that their gov­ern­ment is here for them.

      Madam Speaker, I want to share in the House today, because I know the members opposite were very concerned for our Red Cross nurses to leave the province, and I want to thank the three Canadian Red Cross nurses that completed their term at the Health Sciences Centre. The last nurse completed her shift today. And I thank those nurses, as well as all our nurses in this province that have come to the aid of Manitobans during this very difficult time.